Sebelius in San Antonio: Obamacare Site Will be Fixed by November 30

posted by Michael Board, photo courtsey of Shutterstock
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3 years ago

US Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius told a forum at Centro Med on San Antonio's south side today that the balky Obamacare web site will be fully functional by November 30th.

Sebelius, who has been facing withering criticism for the problems faced by the site, rejected calls to step down, saying those calls are coming from people who never supported health care reform anyway.

"There clearly have been people who have been ferociously opposed to the expansion of health care," Sebelius told 1200 WOAI news following her presentation.

Sebelius conceded that the web site, healthcare.gov, has not 'lived up to its full potential,' but she said contrary to reports, the city is not broken and can be fixed.

"We have laid out a timetable of between now and the end of November," she said. "We think that's the target for optimal flow through."

She said a top Obama Administration officials, Jeffrey Zients, has been named as 'my management lieutenant' to prioritize how to fix the web site.

But she said 700,000 people have submitted applications for health insurance under Obamacare since the exchanges opened on October 1.

"This is not about a web site," she said. "This is about getting health coverage to people who need it."

Mayor Julian Castro, who accompanied Sebelius to the forum, said more than 300,000 people in San Antonio lack health care coverage.

"This is a wonderful opportunity to make sure those who need health care can get affordable coverage," Castro said.

Sebelius said she is committed to getting the site fixed and the program up and running.

"My job is to get this up and running the way it should have been running on day one," she said.